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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26101201">Curse my restless, faltering feet</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellowcryptid/pseuds/mellowcryptid'>mellowcryptid</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Death, Goodbye, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sad, Sickfic, Sonadilver - Freeform, Whump, Whumpfic, Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:35:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,343</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26101201</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellowcryptid/pseuds/mellowcryptid</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sonic is diagnosed with a terminal illness and has two years left to live, but his friends promise to make these the best two years of his life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Shadow the Hedgehog/Silver the Hedgehog/Sonic the Hedgehog</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>44</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Curse my restless, faltering feet</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Trigger warning: this work contains the description of a slow death, and there is no happy plot twist at the end. If this kind of story causes you to feel very bad, I recommend you to avoid it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Sonic’s boyfriends knew that the time had come, and that Sonic wouldn’t make it past that day.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shadow pushed the wheelchair through the grass and towards their favorite spot in Green Hill: a tall tree near the edge of the hill with a bed of flowers underneath it. Ah, Sonic always loved flowers. When he was still healthy, he smelled flowers so much that his face and fur would often be covered with pollen, drawing the attention of butterflies and also making him sneeze and rub his nose a lot, and it was adorable. One of the many endearing characteristics of that young boy who the world was about to lose. In the next few days, when all the mobians of the world join to mourn him in a great funeral, Silver would say (in a voice brittle and wobbly from the never-ending tears): “Please don’t just remember him from the great actions he’s done, but for the small things, and from each and every one of his lovely traits.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But that’s in the future. Here, let’s talk about the present again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Shadow and Silver tried not to make their sadness too visible, for they could cry and mourn after the blue hedgehog departed. Right now, they had to be strong for him, they had to comfort him, and make sure he would pass away peacefully. A hero such as him was more than worthy of a dignified death. The disease confined the (former) Fastest Thing Alive to a wheelchair, making it so Sonic could only move his head slightly, and although he could speak, his voice was breathy due to the sheer effort it took to breathe. As they approached the great tree and the river, he looked to the side to see the white mobian, who returned the look with a sad smile and held his hand. “Thanks for keeping your promise.” He whispered, breaking their hearts.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To understand what promise the blue devil is referring to, you must hear about why he is about to die in the first place.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So let’s talk about the past.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Two years ago, the first signs of Wobbly Hedgehog Syndrome appeared on Sonic and it was awful from the very start, because it only took a short period of time for the illness to deprive him of his noble title of Fastest Thing Alive, and to reduce him to a shell of his old self. It claimed him for no reason and crept on him with no warning. In one day like any other, Sonic went for a jog in the woods and found himself tripping on nothing a lot of times. At first, he paid no mind to it. After all, this was all some months after the Zombot incident, and he was still rather tired due to it. But it started to happen all the time. He would stumble, lose his balance, and become tired. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Him, tired! </span>
  </em>
  <span>He had never gotten exhausted by a run before, except when he had to force himself for many days in a row, and he had already rested properly after the almost-zombie apocalypse was dealt with.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>To his greatest horror, through the course of two months, he went from being capable of breaking the barrier of sound, to only being slightly faster than most people, then to merely running at the speed of any normal human or mobian, and finally, to barely being able to run at all. If he tried to run, one or both of his legs would give way before they even felt tired, causing him to fall over, usually to his side. Standing up without help also became harder and harder. It was like his legs were becoming stiff. And he was starting to become very agitated, desperate to know what was happening to him and why.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At first, he and his friends feared that for some strange reason he had simply lost his powers. Perhaps due to the Metal Virus infection? Or maybe from the Gaia Energy poisoning two years ago? With this possibility in mind, Silver and Shadow took Sonic to Angel Island so he could be examined by Knuckles, but after testing his connection to the emeralds and feeling for his levels of chaos energy, the echidna concluded there was no change in Sonic’s powers, and no sort of energy poisoning was present. Whatever was wrong with him had to be physical, and that was the scariest thing, because it was out of their control. That day, the hedgehog tried to make light of the situation by saying: “Life’s easier when we can use magic to solve our problems, am I right?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With that answer, now they had no other option but to mark an appointment with a doctor. In the clinic, he wasn’t given any direct responses at first, and that was even more stressful than having the truth shoved in his face. The unease was clear in the doctor’s voice and body language with each of Sonic’s answers or descriptions. He was taken to another room to have his ears examined. Then, to another, where they took a blood sample for some testing, which would take a day or two, so he finally left the building with a very vague conclusion, “It can be a lot of things. Don’t worry, though, just wait for the results to be available, alright?” And a bunch of basic instructions like </span>
  <em>
    <span>eat this </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>don’t eat that </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>take lots of rest </span>
  </em>
  <span>and </span>
  <em>
    <span>try stretching whenever you can.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He normally wasn’t one to be concerned with such simple things, but he also wanted to run again, so he did them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One month and a few more visits to the clinic later, the condition never improved - if anything, it only got worse. After a dozen exams, they had scratched out all possibilities. It was no tumor, nothing on his ears and no nutrient deficiency. When the doctor asked Sonic to come with a friend or family member, he knew he was going to get bad news, but truthfully, he had never expected to be officially diagnosed with WHS. It was very hard to process the information, even if the doctor carefully and delicately explained the disease, its effects, and what it meant for the young mobian. Silver was horrified at the news, and Shadow was tense like he hadn’t been in a long time. “It’s a neurological disease, and it starts with the loss of control of your legs, and then it’ll go up to your arms too.” He said, paused, then sighed. “Then, well… unfortunately, it takes over your lungs and makes you incapable of breathing. From your current situation, I can say you still have about two years until that happens.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was even harder to </span>
  <em>
    <span>accept</span>
  </em>
  <span> it all. He was going to wither away and die by the age of eighteen. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Was he going to wither away and die by the age of eighteen? </span>
  </em>
  <span>The blue hedgehog looked down at the floor, numb, expressionless, and unable to react other than nodding or shaking his head when the doctor asked something. Leaving the hospital and going home, he was silent all the way, not even making a noise whenever he almost tumbled. His partners tried to talk to him, but it was as if he wasn’t even there. As soon as he opened the door, Tails rushed to ask what the doctor had said, and Sonic only handed him the paper and went to his room, asking to be left alone for the night. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If that wasn’t bad enough, the entire world became aware in the blink of an eye and wouldn’t shut up about it. After all, he was a celebrity, and bad news spread much faster than good ones. The hero of Mobius was diagnosed with a fatal illness at the lively age of sixteen, and was to die in the next two years. He couldn’t get out of his house without fans telling him “Oh, I’m so sorry for you!” and “I hope everything will be alright!”, which only worked to make him more miserable. Eventually, Tails and Amy had to make dozens of posts online asking people to please stop talking about it all the time, and definitely stop bothering Sonic when they saw him outside. They made sure to say that although they were thankful for the sympathy, the reminders were hurtful and did not help anyone, and Sonic himself spoke up to ask that they kept treating him like a normal mobian and not like someone to be pitied. It was only a while later that they finally stopped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Save the comments for when I’m dead, please.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Without his legendary speed and with his legs faltering at unexpected times, the Blue Blur could not fight anymore, which made him fearful for his safety and for the lives of his friends. With all of those posts all over the internet, newspapers and TV reports, Robotnik would surely have heard the news by now. Sonic couldn’t sleep at night for fear of being caught in such a vulnerable state at any moment. But, to his surprise, when the doctor came to him, he knocked on the door and said he only came to talk. They sat down for a chat with a cup of coffee - of course, under the watch of Shadow, Silver, Knuckles and Amy - and the villain told him that although he had initially thought of taking advantage of the situation, but decided he would not be proving his worth and brilliance by killing a sickly hedgehog. He promised a truce until the other succumbed to the illness.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Trust me, I’m even more frustrated about this than you.” Eggman grumbled, putting his empty cup away. “I’ll never get to have revenge on you for being such a pest. Still, I am no coward. I’m a respectable villain, and I will prove that by leaving you and your annoying friends alone until you’re gone.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He couldn’t help but smile. “Thanks, Egghead. It means a lot.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hmph! Don’t be so happy about it!” He frowned, crossing his arms. “You’ll end up making me regret it!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After another couple of months, his legs were barely able to sustain his weight, and he would be literally wobbling if he tried to stand by himself. Of course, he insisted that he was fine and that he could take care of himself, until one morning, he fell down the set of stairs trying to go outside to get some fresh air. Sonic’s boyfriends were called the same day to check up on him, and they came home to find Tails trying to comfort his hedgehog brother as he sobbed and wept and wailed about how much he missed running through the world, going on adventures and helping people in danger. It was heart-shattering. They enveloped the infirm mobian in a group hug that day, and the three of them promised to give him the best moments of his life before his time came, and to fulfill his last wishes and care for him until the end.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One of Sonic’s wishes was this: “I don’t want to die in a hospital, neither at home. Please, take me to a forest when I’m about to die, alright? It… it will feel better if I’m there, with the flowers and all.” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And, of course, they promised.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Amy bought him a pair of crutches and Vanilla gave him a wheelchair to help him move around on his own without falling and hurting himself. A while later, he also needed a heating pad to wear over his shoulders or hug over his chest, since now that he barely did any activity and was unable to exercise at all apart from some mild physical therapy, his body didn’t produce enough heat for himself and he was always feeling cold. He received one as a gift from the Chaotix, and began using it all the time. Tails made his house more cozy and accessible, moved his own bed to Sonic’s room, and even put a hammock on his workshop so his brother could lie there and be with him whenever he was working and they could chat for hours and hours. The last thing anyone wanted was to let Sonic feel lonely in such a rough time. There were plushies, pillows and blankets almost everywhere in the house. Everything for him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Saying that the illness didn’t change Sonic at all would be one hell of a lie, because no one, not even himself, would deny that he was not as happy and cheerful as he used to be, but even so, despite the hardships he was enduring, he did not lose his spark. He was still optimistic and smiled whenever he could. His mental strength to face destiny without falling into despair or depression was both admirable and sad, to some. His bravery inspired many people in similar conditions to be positive, so in a way, he was still a hero.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once the movement of his legs had been completely lost, it was as if the disease crawled slowly up his back to begin the process on his arms next. To make matters worse came the muscle atrophy and loss of weight. Until now, he had tried to remain as independent as possible, probably in an attempt to hold his pride and dignity. He rarely asked his brother or partners to bring him food or water, to help him walk to the bathroom, and much less to go from one room to another, but the loss of muscle mass was painful enough to render the young hedgehog even less active and took away his will to get out of bed on his own, and that, finally, resulted in eating less than usual and starting to need supplements, but they sadly did not prevent him from becoming thinner and thinner, until his paralyzed limbs resembled those of an elder, soft due the loose skin where he had lost muscle and fat. When the discomfort was too much, his lovers would come and massage his sore limbs to soothe him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But let’s not forget to mention that all this time, they have been doing all they could to cheer Sonic up. Tails usually took him to fly on the Tornado. It was the only way he could feel the wind on his face and give him the feeling of speeding through the world again. They traveled to Soleanna, to Chao Gardens, Spagonia, and of course, to the many zones they’ve explored before, to remember their many adventures. Back home, Shadow and Silver helped him with the items of his bucket list and helped him set small goals for his daily life. One night they made chili dogs by themselves and had a movie marathon until morning came. One week, they went camping on Angel Island and Sonic lay in the grass with his lovers by his side, finding constellations in the night sky after eating many marshmallows. On Sonic’s birthday, the three even went to a convention together in Crystal Gem cosplays and had lots of laughs in there. They even made sure to take Sonic to pick berries on a farmer market while his arms still worked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>One day as he tested the movements of his hands and saw they had started to become bony, stiff and weak, he thought about writing a will while he still could. But, he soon realized he was nothing but an orphan who had always lived solely with the help of the rings he collected from the ground. He slept in dens, houses of friends, or anywhere he felt safe enough. His only belongings were his few sets of clothes, a few bracelets, a pair of sunglasses and a skateboard. He had nothing to leave for the people he loved to look at, and use to remember him. Well, that was what he thought at least, because truly, he had left enough marks on their hearts for them to not need a physical object to remind them of him. His friends made sure to let him know so when he eventually brought it up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“After all you’ve done for this world, risking your life for no rewards, you still think you need to leave money or objects for us?” Knuckles shook his head, chuckling. “You’re really stupid, Sonic.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His last year of life was a lot more complicated. Now that he could only move his head, he was completely dependent on the aid of the people around him. Entertaining him was complicated. Tails dropped his projects for a while to take care of his brother all the time, and to give him comfort and fun when his boyfriends couldn’t stay to do so. Sometimes, Sonic sang. When it became harder to breathe, his friends would sing for him. Other times, they read books together or watched more movies, even taking him to the theater to see new ones. Some other days they took him in his wheelchair for a ride in some place he liked, and that was mostly the forest where he grew up. One of these days, they sat at the beach, and Sonic stared at the sunset with silent tears trickling from his eyes, going down his cheeks, and dripping in the sand under him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Although everyone else had noticed, Amy was the only one who asked: “Are you okay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonic’s lip quivered and he turned his head away, drawing in a shaky sigh. He didn’t ever answer, and he didn’t need to. Everyone knew he wasn’t okay. No optimism or positivity could disguise his suffering any longer, he could not ignore reality or convince himself he was “okay”. Seeing his body so ungracefully thin and weak told them he had one foot in the grave by now. The disease had mercilessly claimed his body and was just getting ready to put an early end to his life. The disease did not care about his good actions or kind heart. The disease would be mentioned in books about the hero’s life, and that was the only good thing about this tragedy: the research about this disease increased significantly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once Sonic completed eighteen years, it was clear he didn’t have more than a month or two left. This time, there wasn’t a big, fun party for his birthday. Well, there was a party, and his friends </span>
  <em>
    <span>tried </span>
  </em>
  <span>to make it a happy day, but it became difficult for them to pretend everything was fine. “It’s alright, guys. Enough pretending.” Sonic spoke between his heavy breaths, and they all finally gave in to tears and hugged him one last time. Sadly, he couldn’t hug back, but he thanked them deeply. They said their goodbyes and offered their kindest words. Espio told him tales of a beautiful afterlife, where the world is timeless and he would be able to run again, without ever becoming tired. Knuckles also offered his version of it, talking about the world of chaos energy, where he would have a peaceful life as a spirit.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And another month went by. Without anything good to do with their time, the days seemed to pass slowly and gloomily. Some friends still visited Sonic once or twice again after the birthday, but some simply couldn’t look at the hedgehog’s state without falling into tears. “It feels like there’s something heavy on top of my chest all the time.” He groaned as Silver tucked him into bed with lots of blankets to keep him warm, and the white hedgehog died inside. The doctor said that would be the final symptom. Amy and Knuckles said goodbye. Cream and Vanilla said goodbye. Blaze blessed his soul and wished him a peaceful demise. Sonic gave all of his items to Tails and all of his rings to WHS research, then he waited. He needed company more than ever on his last days, to avoid thinking about the inevitable and becoming anxious about it. “Sucks knowing I can’t do anything about it, you know? That’s all. Can we see another movie?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Finally, Tails woke up to see that his brother’s chest barely rose and fell on his sleep. He pressed his ear to the other’s chest, and it was when he knew it was time, and he cried so much. Sonic could hardly breathe. He was on the brink of death. After calming himself down and wiping his tears, he woke the ill mobian up, helped him into his wheelchair and took him to have his last meal, never trying to hide the truth from him. They promised him they would not hide it. Silver and Shadow arrived and the four of them talked. They knew the time had come, that Sonic would not make it past that day. Tails hugged his brother, crying and crying and crying endlessly. He could barely utter a proper goodbye. The other hedgehogs suggested letting the young fox come, but he shook his head and stated he didn’t want to see his brother die. Sonic understood.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m so s-so-sorry… Sonic, I… I’ll miss you so much…” he wailed, tears soaking the other’s shoulder. “Ple-ease d-don’t go, don’t leave me...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s alright now.” The hedgehog whispered, doing his best to smile. “I’m ready to go. You stay and keep being awesome, lil’ bud.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So the fox nodded weakly. After he let go of the hug, he rushed to his room - to mourn a little more, they assumed. Then Sonic was taken by his boyfriends to fulfill their last promise to him: to not let him die in his bed at home nor in a hospital room. He wanted to die in the forest. So to Green Hill they went.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Now we’re back to the present as they stopped under the shadow of that tree to watch the landscape for a moment, to let him see the mountains and bridges one last time. The sound of a waterfall endlessly crashing down into the river was calming, just like the songs of birds and the wind ruffling the grass and leaves around them, bringing the smell of flowers. “Remember when I could run through those loops?” He whimpered pathetically, practically choking on his tears. It was so hard to breathe. “Remember?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ll be able to run again, when your spirit is free.” Shadow spoke serenely, picking him up from the chair and resting him on the grass, over some of the flowers, and he remembered finding the blue hedgehog in the exact same pose years earlier, when he was healthy and happy. Oh, how terribly his body had changed over the last two years. His frame was now bony, his limbs rigid, his quills falling and his skin losing color. “Is it good enough here?” He asked, shaking away the memories. “Are you comfortable?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes… it is, and I am. Thank you.” He nodded a bit. His boyfriends moved around him and he felt their gentle touch on his soft skin. His head was rested on Shadow’s lap as the ebony hedgehog caressed his quills, while Silver took his hand, kissed it, then lay in the ground next to him, wrapping him in a protective hug. He smiled and looked fondly at each of them, speaking with a hoarse voice. “I love you guys.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We love you too.” Silver smiled, wiping tears from his own eyes as he tried to hold back some sobs. Shadow’s tears were the most silent of them all, enough to make some people wonder how he could control his feelings easily in this situation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>For a while, everything was silent apart from the waterfall and the weak wheezes and coughs from the hero as he started to slip away. Sonic had two years to accept his fate and get ready for it, and though he had convinced himself that he was prepared to go, now that the moment was finally here… it was still so hard to surrender. The debilitated hedgehog tried to resist and he forced himself to keep breathing even though it was so exhausting and painful. He groaned as his vision became blurry and dark and when his head started to feel light, desperately clinging to life in a final rush of instinctive panic. He didn’t want to let go. “Ngh- help.” he whimpered. “I-it hurts…”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shh…” Silver drew back from the hug and sat up just to put a hand over Sonic’s chest. He did not dare to look at the other’s face, just to place his other hand on his cheek and rub it gently with his thumb, wiping his tears in a sad attempt to soothe his blue partner. He didn’t want to let him go either, but he was also tired of seeing one of the people he loved the most suffering this way. “It’s okay. I-it’s okay. Just let it happen.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’ll be alright.” The striped hedgehog bent down to kiss Sonic’s forehead and take his hand. “Relax. You can let go now.” When he looked into Sonic’s eyes again, they had faded from a beautiful bright green to a dull gray, and he seemed to stare into nothing. His face was ashen from the shards of life that already left him, but his expression still seemed traced with deep worry and regret, and Shadow realized what he was concerned about. “We’ll take care of Tails. And of the world. Rest in peace knowing we’ll take care of things from now on, okay?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That, finally, seemed to calm him down. He relaxed, then a feeble, but serene smile replaced his pained expression. Shadow closed the other’s eyes and put his limp hands over his stomach, seeing that his breaths were reduced to practically nothing. A very quiet “</span>
  <em>
    <span>See you…</span>
  </em>
  <span>” came out of him. Sonic breathed his last breath, and let everything go. His heart gave up shortly after, and the two hedgehogs could feel as if his spirit, happy and free, hugged them and kissed them one last time before passing away into the realm of rest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“... see you, faker…”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
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